Food for the Body and the Soul

Three responses to the problem of food insecurity – hunger – in Central Iowa through local food production:

Shara Bradley, Resident Services Program Manager for Community Housing Initiatives, the nonprofit organization that owns and manages affordable housing at Eastwood Apartments, brings us into the community garden she keeps with children who live in the apartments.

Hannah Dankbar and Carrie Shunault graduate students at ISU’s Graduate Program of Sustainable Agriculture, show us the Food At First Garden on Ontario Road and describe a partnership between the Graduate Program, Trinity Church , and Food at First, to distribute fresh produce from the garden every Saturday from 9:00 – 11:00 AM.

Ash Bruxvoort, Local Foods Coordinator for Prairie Rivers of Iowa, describes her work in promoting awareness about local food production including community gardens and a garden bike ride this fall.

We also visit two cornerstone downtown church buildings:

First United Methodist Church is celebrating its 150th Anniversary. Pastor Fred Lewis gives us some stories from its history and notifies us of their upcoming historic bridal gown fashion show.

Orthodox Christians have purchased the historic church building at the corner of Kellogg and 7th in downtown Ames. They have brought a priest to Ames and are building the Holy Tranfiguration Orthodox Church Father Martin Watt explains some fundamentals of the Orthodox Church. He and board member Geoffry Thompson also describe moving in and founding a new church.